PA ProStart Blog

Hospitality and Tourism Careers: A World of PossibilitiesWhat is the Hospitality Industry?Oxford Dictionary defines hospitality as “The friendly and generous reception and entertainment of guests, visitors, or strangers.” It’s a concept that has been around as long as people have been traveling—and has only become more relevant with increasing globalization and interest in tourism around the world.

Today, the hospitality and tourism industry is one of the largest in the world, contributing 1 in 10 jobs and adding $8.8 trillion to the global economy in 2018. Businesses in this industry cover a wide variety of services including lodging (hotels/accommodations), food & beverage service, recreation & entertainment, transportation, and other travel services. Guests patronize hospitality industry businesses for a variety of reasons—whether it be on vacation, traveling for work meetings and functions, family celebrations, or just as a part of day-to-day life.

​Two of the largest sub-sectors in the industry are Lodging (accounting for over 19% of U.S. travel and tourism-related spending) and Food Services (accounting for over 15% of spending).

Careers in Restaurants & FoodserviceThe restaurant & foodservice sector consists of businesses that serve food and beverages to customers in a variety of settings, from fine dining restaurants to large national quick-service restaurant chains, coffee shops and cafes to bars and taverns, and private catering to food-trucks/ to-go service.According to the National Restaurant Association 2019 Industry Factbook:

There are 1 million+ restaurant & foodservice locations in the U.S.

The U.S. Restaurant Industry employs approximately 15.3 million, with that number expected to increase to 16.9 million by 2029. This growth is expected to be spread across all parts of restaurant operations, from food preparation and service to supervisory and management opportunities.

U.S. restaurants had an estimated $825 billion in sales in 2018.

Restaurants employ more women and minority managers than any other industry.

Nearly 6 in 10 adults have worked in the restaurant industry at some point during their lives.

Workforce in High Demand: Restaurants and hotels are starving for qualified employees to staff their businesses. Both restaurant and hotel industry leaders consistently list employee recruitment and retention as one of the top challenges that their businesses face. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were over 900,000 job openings in the restaurants-and-accommodations sector during the second half of 2018— the highest on record. The National Restaurant Association projects industry employment to increase from 15.3 million in 2019 to 16.9 million by 2029. As a job-seeker, this means that there has never been a better time to enter the hospitality industry. Restaurants and hotels, which already offer positions with low barriers to entry, are focusing on things like improving employee culture and increasing pay and benefits to try to attract workers in this tight labor market.

Career Advancement: The hospitality industry also offers incredible opportunity for career advancement and upward mobility. According to the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA), 80% of hotel minimum wage workers are eligible for promotion in less than a year, and 100% are eligible in less than two years. In addition, AHLA reported that more than half of general managers and department managers began their careers in hourly entry-level positions. Restaurants are known as the “training grounds” for America’s workforce--providing 1 in 3 Americans with their first job experiences— but they offer so much more. The National Restaurant Association says that 9 in 10 restaurant managers, supervisors, and chefs, as well as 8 in 10 owners advanced from entry level restaurant positions.

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Global Possibilities: If you like to travel, the hospitality industry can offer many ways to see the world while making money and building a career. Travel and Tourism is the second-fastest growing sector in the world, responsible for over 1/5 of all new jobs created worldwide over the last five years. There are restaurants, hotels, and tourism-related businesses across every part of the globe in need of qualified employees. International hotel and foodservice companies can provide paths for employees to find careers abroad.

Learn Transferable Skills: Working in the hospitality industry helps you to develop skills such as customer service and professionalism, time management, adaptability and problem-solving, creativity, and leadership. Soft skills like these are some of the most sought-after qualities that employers across all industries look for.

The Industry of FUN: A career in hospitality is definitely not your typical 9-5. Whether you’re helping to put on an exciting event, serving up a meal so delicious-looking that your customers snap a photo for Instagram, or giving hotel guests recommendations to make their vacation the best it can be, it’s all about creating an enjoyable guest experience and making people happy. If you want a career that you won’t get bored with, check out all the career possibilities that hospitality has to offer.

ProStart® is a nationwide, two-year program for high school students that develops their talent into tomorrow’s restaurant and foodservice industry leaders. Learn more about Pennsylvania ProStart at: www.prla.org/prostart.

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PA ProStart Blog

The PA ProStart Blog is for Pennsylvania students and teachers of the ProStart Program- a nationwide, two-level high school career and technical education program that teaches culinary arts and restaurant fundamentals.